Tunnel.



N0. 690,960. Pat'ented lan. |04, |902. C. M. JACOBS.

TUNNEL.

(Application med Dec. 1*'7, 1901.) (No Nudel.) 3 Sheets-Sheet l.

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l Patented lan. I4, H902. C. M. JACUBS.

T U N N E L.

(Application filed Dec. 17, 1901.)

3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

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Patned an. I4, |902. C. M. JACOBS.

T U N N E L.

(Application led Dec. 17, 1901. y

3 Sheets-Shoal 3.

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CHARLES M. JACOBS, OF NE'W YORK, N. Y.

TUNNEL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 690,960, dated January 14, 1902. Application filed December 17,1901. Serial No. 86,207. (No model.)

To all whom, t may concern:

Beit known that I, CHARLES M. JACOBS, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at New York, New York county, New York State, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tunnels, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to tunnels.

Among the main objects of my invention is to provide a simple, highly efficient, economical, and durable construction for tu nnels and the like.

In the drawings, Figurel is in the main a longitudinal sectional view of my invention. Fig. 2 is a section on the line 2 2 of Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3 3 of Fig. l. Fig. 4 is a similar View showing an additional feature of construction. Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic view of twin tunnels.

In Fig. l of the drawings the tunnel is shown as passing through loose or soft earthy material-s uch as gravel, silt, or the like-such as often found underneath a river. In the lower part of Fig. 1 is illustrated rock or hardpan or other firm foundation. As is well known, great difficulty is experienced in passing a tunnel through material such a silt, running sand, and thelike, and under the present con ditions of heavy loads it is generally supposed to be practically impossible and unsafe to construct a very long tunnel through such ma` terials. By myinvention a tunnel construction maybe passed through such material and be entirely safe and practicable and will have the capacity of carrying great loads, such as heavy main-line railway traffic, although it is obvious the tunnel maybe used for any purpose, such as a pathway or roadway, the purpose of the invention being to make it available for all uses.

In the drawings, A is a solid foundation material.

B is the silt or other loose unstable material.

C is water above the bed formed by the silt or the like.

D is a protecting-shell, formed of any suit able material-for example, cast-iron. In the particular construction shown the shell is of cylindrical form and built up of sectional rings added one to the other. Obviously the form of the protecting-shell may be lnodie'd.

E E are piers extending downwardly from the lower side of the tunnel until they secure a solid foundation. As shown in the drawings, the piers are extended through the silt B and down to the foundation A. It is preferred that the shell D should be of such strength that in the process of erection it will support itself and afford working space to protect a passage-Way from one pier to another; but it is not essential that the strength of the shell I) should be such as to carry the loads intended to pass through the tunnel. In the preferred form of construction the loads are carried b y means of a bridge of any effective construction, as indicated in the drawings.

In the drawings, F illu-strates a roadway, and G any approved form of truss constitu ting the span supporting said roadway. In use the load is taken by the spans and transmitted to the piers in the usual way. By this construction the tunnel-shell D maybe of only sufficient strength to carry its own weight, yet it will not be deiiected by reason of any loads passing through it.

From the foregoing it will loe seen that the in vention m ay properly be entitled and clearly defined hy the term subterranean tunnelbridge.

'lhe piers may be placed at such intervals as the necessity requires and the load de mands, the determination of that question being largely decided by the conditions that prevail in different localites. lf desired, the shell may be tied to the bridgefor example, by connecting-plates II H, as shown in Fig. Lt. This construction will be found of advantage where long spans are made from pier to pier, although it is a matter of option With the engineer whether the same are availed of or not.

-In Fig. 2 it will be seen that E is the pier, D the shell, and F the roadway. 'Ihe pier E supports the casting I, which in turn supports the bridge girders or trusses and also the shell. In the particular construction shown the weight of the load is transmitted from the bridge through the casting to the pier. Manifestly the construction might be modified so that the shell performs the dual function of shell and bridge-span. K represents transverse supporting-beams carried at suitable intervals by the spans and upon IOO which the roadway maybe placed. This suggests one convenient form for constructing the roadway. Obviously it maybe modiiied in a variety of ways.

As shown in Fig. 5, if desirable a plurality of tunnel-bridges may be arranged side by side and connected to each other by a girder J or other suitable means.

The piers may be of any desired cross-sectional shape and may be formed of any suitable material, such as steel, concrete, stone, screw-piles, or other material.

Hitherto tunnels designed to carry great weights or heavy loads must be depressed or carried down to such a great depth as to render the approach to the entrances practically prohibitive. By this invention, however, the level ofthe tunnel may be raised much higher, thereby reducing the cost of approaches and making it possible to reach a surface terminal only a short distance from the deepest point of the tunnel.

What I claim is- 1. A subterranean tunnel, comprising a bridge-span, a pier underneath and supporting said span, and a surrounding shell forming a tunnel cavity or passage.

2. A subterranean tunnel, comprising a bridge-span, a pier underneath and supporting said span, a roadway carried by vsaid span, and a surrounding shell forming a tunnel cavity or passage.

3. A subterranean t'unnel, comprising a bridge-span, a pier underneath and supporting said span, and a surrounding shell forining a tunnel cavity or passage, said shell being secured to said bridge-span.

4. A subterranean tunnel composed of piers carrying; a truss-like structure bearing a roadway and a shell forming the tunnel cavity or passage and holding back the earth through which the tunnel passes.

5. A tunnel for projecting a passage-way through unstable earthy' material, said tunnel comprising a shell for protecting a passage-way therethrough, a bridge-span within said shell and a roadway carried by said bridge-span and piers underneath and supporting said bridge and roadway, said piers extending downwardly through said unstable earthy material to solid foundation.

CHARLES M. JACOBS.

Witnesses:

L. VREELAND, R. S. ALLYN. 

